~Relief~

That's what I feel today and it is a wonderful, blessed feeling. :-) But we'll take things in order. That means we start with the latest on the house situation. Sorry. ;-)

The latest development is that the Crazy Lady (I'm capitalizing it because that's all I ever call her--it's her official name around here now) is trying to worm more out of us. Shocker, hu? Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up. No, it's too complicated. Let me explain. ;-)

New regulations were passed in 2006. As long as a septic system passes inspection and doesn't fail, nothing has to be updated to meet the new codes. If your system fails and needs replaced, your new system has to come up to the new codes--but that's the only reason you would have to mess with it: if it needs replaced anyway. As of 2015, you will no longer be able to sell a house without an updated system. But it doesn't have any affect on buying or selling until then--five years from now.

The Crazy Lady is having an inspection done on her system to make sure it will pass and she won't have to fork out the money to upgrade. (Rumor has it this costs about $14,000. A pretty chunk, for sure.) But she wants to offer us the same offer she'd made before (that we had accepted and she then bailed on)... but include an addendum requiring US to update OUR system to the new codes. Are you getting this? She wants to sell her house without worrying about it, but wants us to pay $14,000 to buy her a new septic system for this place--on TOP of everything else we're already throwing in, including all of the appliances AND paying the big fee for her to get her loan (!), as well as some smaller fees that rightfully belong to her, not us. I'm telling you, the woman is INSANE!!! Our septic system is 20 years old. I've done some studying on it and found that the average life span of a septic system is 30 years. Sometimes they fail before that, but they can last much longer than that if properly cared for. James treats our system every month as well as when we take trips, which is quite often. We've never had a lick of trouble with it. Are you doing the math, here? This system will probably last another 10 years, possibly 15 or even 20. We have no reason to believe that it won't pass inspection, enabling us to sell the house without upgrading. But she wants us to pay $14,000 to replace something that might break down and need replaced 10 years from now! Or 15--or more, maybe! Say it with me: Aaaaaaaaaaauuuuuuuuggggghhhhh! The woman is a lunatic! There is nobody in the world insane enough to DO that for her! It's not OUR problem if something at this house needs replaced 10 or 20 years from now! If we had a pipe burst a year after we moved in, we couldn't blame the guy we bought the house from, declaring that he should have had the plumbing updated even though it was perfectly fine when he lived here. What is she thinking?! Does she want us to leave a ten year supply of light bulbs, too? I mean, eventually they're all going to burn out and have to be replaced. ?! It's just nuts. If our septic system fails inspection then we'll just have to swallow it and fork out the dough to have it replaced. If it passes, replacing the whole thing with a new system is simply not our responsibility. (If it DOES fail and have to be replaced, you can rest assured we will NOT be making the same deal with the Crazy Lady! Ha!)

We told Jason to let the Crazy Lady and her realtor (who I really like--such a nice guy... but apparently not bold enough to tell the Crazy Lady that she is, indeed, crazy) know how we feel about the situation so they don't waste more time (theirs and ours) writing up another crazy offer that we're not going to agree to. My Dad says the woman ought to show a little integrity and follow through with her first offer. I love hearing him say things like that. He's so often dead-on in his judgment of these matters and it reinforces my predetermined belief that the woman is insane. Besides, he can say in one sentence what it takes me three pages to say. ;-)

I give the update because I know there are those out there (though they be few) who actually want to know all of the details of what's going on. I, personally, am done with the situation. I'm done holding out hope that we'll make a deal with the Crazy Lady and can honestly say that I DON'T CARE anymore. Not in a sad, hopeless sort of a way though. No, in a joyously surrendered and victorious sort of way!

I felt like I was finally able to "break through" in prayer today. I feel like this house junk with the Crazy Lady has been consuming my life all week long. Consume: absorb, engross, use up, exhaust, deplete, squander... I haven't been able to think or pray about anything else, I've been so tied up with this stuff. I feel like I've been thinking, praying, eating, breathing, sleeping this stressful Crazy Lady ordeal and it's just been consuming my life! I've prayed so much this week... but it's almost all been about THIS. I've been feeling so guilty over it the past day or two, knowing that there are other things that I have been neglecting in prayer, things that are far more important than a house sale. There are people in situations far more dire than ours, needs of far greater and eternal significance. I feel like I've been weighed down with my own problems and situations and I just felt so heavy and self-centered. So I begged God for forgiveness and asked him to empty my heart out of all of the worries and cares that I've been carrying, the cold, hard things rattling around in my heart (it made sense in my prayer--really! Ha!) and to fill it up with joy and thankfulness and worship again--and with love and true concern for others and their problems and needs. And I'm happy to report that God is just as loving and merciful as He used to be. :-) I've been able to pray for all the things that I ought to be praying for instead of just my own issues. I feel so RENEWED today. I have felt a song in my heart and joy in my soul and freedom from this situation. I still pray for God to sell the house, of course, but it's not a solo-prayer anymore. If we keep putting it in His hands and trying to follow His leading I know that it will happen in His good time, but I don't want to squander my time and prayers and energies on it anymore. It's so relieving to not care anymore. Ha! I feel like I just don't care. I don't care about trying to make a deal with the Crazy Lady. If it doesn't work out, God will provide something else.

And isn't it just like God?! WHILE I was praying and receiving this PEACE over everything, Jason called. He was calling to give more info on the septic mess, but he also said that Ed had called him. Ed is the realtor for the people who offered us full price for our house and didn't ask for anything special, but who can't buy it until they sell their own. He was checking with Jason because he saw that there was no contract on the house yet and that it was still on the market. He said his people still want it, and that they had three showings at their own house yesterday! Wowzers! That's a miracle in itself in this market (!), but add in the fact that it's a 2 bedroom home (so few people looking for those) and the fact that it's priced a lot higher than most of the other 2 bedrooms, it's AMAZING. If they get a contract on their house, they say they will immediately put a contract on ours. Just because they had three showings doesn't mean anything will actually come of it, but I took it as a blessing from God. A little reminder that He is still in control of this thing and can work whatever miracles are necessary to perform His will. AND I thought of Sam. Every time this Crazy Lady mess has come up in conversation Sam suggests the same thing: "We just need to pray that those other people will sell their house so they can buy ours." When I hung up with Jason I called Sam into the room and told him that perhaps it was his prayers that had brought those three people to look at that house and told him to keep on praying--maybe that WAS God's answer for us! :-)

In other news, the insurance adjuster came out today to inspect the hail damage. Verdict:

*All three roofs are trashed and need replaced
*The house and office need to be re-stained (the golf ball sized hail pelted them fiercely)
*The kids' play fort may have to be replaced entirely (if just the tarp can't be ordered)
*The pond liner needs replaced
*The deck needs re-stained
*The window needs replaced
*The trim on the same window may need replaced
*All three sky lights need new domes

Seems like there was more, but that's all I can think of right now. He should get his estimate to us in the next day or two. We're not real sure how it works after that so we'll have to take it a step at a time, but it's good to know that they're going to take care of everything. :-)

James made a trip into town to pick up sky light domes that didn't actually get to the store today like they were supposed to, but at least he got a hair cut while he was in town. The kids spent their day doing school, running around the yard, catching praying mantises, and writing songs. Sam wrote a truly great song today called "God Sent the Cookies from the Sky." Something about it being a snow day, but it wasn't snow--it was cookie dough! They put it to music and had James play it on the piano for them tonight so they could all sing it together. :-)

And that's about it from around here. We feel peace and joy and deliverance--and feel like our faith has been strengthened through all of this. It's so cool to serve God. He turns all things into good things for us. :-)